Disaster Planning and Preparedness in the Hotel Industry

Disasters experienced by the hospitality industry have steadily increased over the past few decades, and the industry has emerged as one of the most vulnerable businesses to disasters and emergencies, with a wave of catastrophic events striking it in recent years. Disaster management has become a vital tool as key industry players seek ways to cope with these unexpected events.  Disaster Planning and Preparedness in the Hotel Industry reveals that a majority of hotels are not financially capable to prepare and train personnel, and unable to afford financing activities or disaster and emergency preparedness plans and programs. Furthermore, it finds that although emergencies bring about trauma and hardship in hotels, they are at the same time establishing a re-engineered life cycle. The book goes on to suggest that for hotels to be well managed and adequately prepared for emergency, all stakeholders should be engaged in removing setbacks and barriers to effective disaster and emergency management and planning. It concludes that Jordanian hotel managers and stakeholders should establish a well detailed emergency planning and preparedness schedule and outline details of the collaborative management plan for emergency cases.   By identifying major emergencies that have occurred in the hotel industry; investigating hotels’ preparation for emergencies in the past; and exploring how hotels manage and overcome such emergencies; this book will increase the awareness of emergency managers and scholars on how to read, manage, and overcome the impact of emergencies in the hospitality industry.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. Disaster and Emergency Planning and Preparedness in Hotels  Chapter 3. Analysis and Findings  Chapter 4. Conclusion and Future Direction

About the Author :
Ahmad Rasmi Albattat, PhD, is an Assistant Professor, Management and Science University, Selangor, Malaysia, and a visiting Professor and external examiner at the Politeknik Pariwisata Medan, Indonesia. His research interests include hospitality management, the hotel industry, tourism, events, emergency planning, disaster and crisis management, and human resource.  Ahmad Puad Mat Som, PhD, currently works at the Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Terengganu, Malaysia. His research interests include tourism planning and development, sustainable tourism, community participation in tourism, tourism marketing, tourism crisis management, and Muslim friendly tourism.

Review :
‘During the last several decades, natural and man-made disasters have significantly impacted human lives, the social fabric, and the built environment. The hospitality industry is one of the most vulnerable to disasters and hazards but it has not received substantial attention from scholars. Disaster Planning and Preparedness in the Hotel Industry highlights the lack of preparedness and planning and recommends that hotel managers and industry leaders should establish comprehensive emergency management plans engaging different stakeholders in the sector for collaborative success.’ Disaster and emergency management has four stages, say Albattat and Som: preparedness for, response to, recovery from, and mitigation of; they focus on the first stage, and take the hospitality industry in Jordan as a case study. Using qualitative research, they illustrate the impact of disaster on the tourism industry and establish a strategic approach to crisis management. In particular, they provide various decision analysis theories and support tools in disaster planning and preparedness.